


Water's Soothing Grace

by Lostflamefox



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, First chapter is an author's note, Frisk has a gender, Frisk is a girl, I haven't planned out many chapters but that will change, M/M, Monsters are on the surface, Not many of the characters show up until very late, Reader is a water mage, Reader is very kind, Sans is hurt, The reader is a mage, This is fluffy and sweet compared to my angst, less angst, surface - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:58:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15984197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lostflamefox/pseuds/Lostflamefox
Summary: This is trash before I had any good planning skills, so I'll be re-doing this one. Sorry, folks.





	1. A/N

Taking on my third fanfic at the same time as another two. Good ideas 100. This has definitely worked out for me before... totally. I'M TRYING OKAY?-

This is gonna be a slightly chiller fic, to soothe from all of my ANGST. I mean I'm still working on chapter one of my Horrortale fic, and I gotta continue working on Underfell, but if I'm in a chill mood I gotta have something to work on, right?... God my updates will slow even further.

There will still be profanity, violence (I can't not to violence), and maturity. But they're all toned down compared to my other angst that is slowly eating away at my soul as I write it. As soon as the relationship starts off it's gonna be fluffy to all hell, and so sweet my teeth will probably fall out, and not because of my gingivitis.

So... slower updates, but... better quality??? Less... murdery??? Yeah, that. Enjoy.

 

i jUST FUCKIN GAVE UP ON LOSTSOULS DIDN"T I


	2. -1- A Helping Hand

Weak sunlight fought through the thick, dark cloud cover that plagued the blue skies, onto the thicker forest canopy. A bulk of the trees were some sort of evergreen, though a few deciduous kinds of trees sprung up in clearer areas where they could catch more sun. Undergrowth was thick under the evergreens, though thinned around the roots of deciduous. Shadows weren't as pronounced as they could have been, with the light being not being shed as brightly or at such an angle.

A river snaked its way along, usually around five feet across. Weeping willows and maples crowded around the higher parts of the bank, their roots showing in the water, giving hiding places for fish. On either side of the river there was a well-worn path, the undergrowth being cut away to make easy travel.

The leaves of the trees rustled as a strong breeze blew through, seeming to come from the direction of the mountain that loomed far to the north, its peak visible if you could see through the canopy. It winded through the tree's trunks, like playful wind spirits having a race or playing tag. Stronger breezes managed to cause ripples on the river's surface when they weren't disturbed by rapids.

Walking on one side of the river was a girl. She seemed around eighteen, having young facial features and no wrinkles; her skin was nearly flawless, like the smooth stones that would wash up in the sand after being eroded. Her hair was slick and long, the (h/c) locks pushed onto her back. Her eyes were a shining (e/c), having a sort of jovial light in them.

On her head rested a crown woven out of reeds and water lilies, though was fraying and coming apart at the edges. She wore a bland gray dress that reached down to her ankles, with long sleeves and a keyhole neckline; it was far from perfect, being slightly wrinkled and dirty in some places, with a few tears near her shoulders and arms. She walked barefoot on the soft sand, her toes sinking between the fine grains.

Padding softly behind her was a fishing cat. She could've been mistaken for a housecat if not for her head, which was proportioned differently. The ears were farther spaced, and the nose was bigger and broader. The ears were smaller, and the eyes were a bit bigger. Her pelt was a soft gray, having black stripes around her head and tail but along the rest of her body, dots. Her shoulders were also much broader, and was more muscular than a fat housecat.

Birdcalls filled the near silence, gentle melodies and hymns by the various species. Fallen leaves from the previous autumn were scattered about on the forest floor, crushed and thoroughly dead, decaying. Flowers sprung up from between the golden and brown colors, the brightness attracting insects and hummingbirds, the sweet, blooming scent of spring being washed over everything by the gusts of wind.

A hummingbird was drinking from a white immortality iris, the dark greens, shadowy blacks, and vibrant purple tail feathers contrasting the delicate white petals. When noticing them, it let out little short, sweet notes of a bird-call before leaving and going into the forest to search out another flower to its liking. The fishing cat prowled ahead of the girl to sniff where the bird had gone.

"Don't even think about it, Olympe," she scolded half-heartedly. "You already had a bank swallow. Your eyes are greedier than your stomach, and... that hummingbird was rather pretty." Disappointed, the fishing cat slipped back in step behind her to continue the walk.

Maneuvering around the leaning trunk and roots of a weeping willow who had grown in the side of the path, she ran her hand across the rough-ish bark as she passed. It stung against her skin when she scraped her palm against it, so she rubbed her palm against the thigh of her dress as if trying to rub it off the sting.

Olympe paused, then dashed forwards, weaving between her feet to scout ahead on the path. Nothing seemed out of the usual, but she kept quiet, following the fishing cat. The muscles rippled underneath her pelt as she padded with purpose, and she recognized the look she kept; a cat on a hunting mission, though it didn't seem like she had found a small creature to have as a mid-afternoon snack.

Her delicate paw prints left on the sand were swallowed by the girl's footprints as they pressed on. She became increasingly curious about where the fishing cat was headed or what she'd detected, though she wouldn't ask out loud in the chance that it would throw her off and she'd never know the answer. So she stayed deadly silent as she followed, listening to the sounds of the forest.

The path switched when Olympe turned and headed into the forest to their right, away from the riverside. She looked longingly at the water for a moment before following, careful not to let her feet crunch on the leaves or sticks, and trying to keep from her dress catching on the undergrowth that tried to drag her back by the fabric of her clothing. The land started to slope upwards after a good twenty feet.

She was surprised at how far away Olympe had been to catch up on something, though she supposed the wind blowing towards them would magnify anything to the cat's senses. The fishing cat leaped silently over a mossy log blocking their way, and the girl had to clamber over it, since it was a bit too tall to just step over normally like the other, thinner logs they came across.

The trees had started to thin out, though not by much. The fallen autumn leaves got more intense as there were slightly less evergreens in the area, until eventually there was just the occasional. Undergrowth had become next to nonexistent beside bushes and ferns, the flowers very few since there was little sunlight going through the leaves there. The land plateaued after another thirty feet away from the river.

On the outskirts of the open field ahead was a monster. It was a skeleton, the bones bleach-white. It had a wider frame, with a broad chest; the structure seemed much more likely a man's. The skull was what put it off as a monster, being rounded and rather comical, instead of being taller and narrower like a proper human's skull. The eye sockets were rather large and round, though closed. The nasal cavity was kind of small. The teeth were pulled up on either side in an eternal grin, though it seemed slack.

He wore a cobalt blue jacket over a white t-shirt, and black basketball shorts with a white stripe on either side. He wore one fuzzy pink slipper, the other missing. The center of his ribcage had been punctured by something that she assumed to be a spear, the sharp end of the weapon in the ground below him, pinning him effectively; crimson red stained the area surrounding it on his white shirt and a small puddle was forming around him.

"... Olympe, get Rousse. We're going to need him to carry him back to the cabin," she instructed, and the fishing cat turned tail and dashed back into the forest, throwing caution about noise into the wind. She made her way over to the monster, crouching down at his side. She watched as his chest rose and fell in an uneven pattern, and how the blood slightly spread along the cloth and grass.

Her eyes scanned over him, seeing multiple other scuff wounds and small cuts, like a smaller knife had been taken to them. Those could be dealt with another time. She analyzed the spear's shaft, to find it was more like an incredibly thin tree trunk that had been chopped at the edges, making a rough, quick shaft. Anything could be at the other end, from an actual spearhead to a knife to anything sharp that could've been lying around, such as glass shards.

Taking the reed crown off of her head, she began to hastily untie it, pulling apart the long strands of reeds that made up the bulk of it. In the woods from where she'd came she could hear sticks messily snapping as a heavy body approached, so she quickened her pace. Setting the water lilies aside, she had multiple long reeds to work with.

Lumbering out of the trees came the rough-scaled body of an alligator, fresh out of the river. Water still streamed off of its body, seeping between scales, and it blinked as it paused as close as it could next to the monster. Careful as she could, she lifted him up by his shoulders, hoisting him onto the back of the alligator. Next she adjusted his legs onto the back of the alligator.

Thanks to the skeleton's small height, he fit on the alligator's back just enough. Using the reeds, she tied his arms and legs to the reptile to make sure he wouldn't fall off at any time on the trip back. Standing up straight, she picked up the water lilies and tucked two of them behind one of her ears, poking out next to her face. She placed the remaining one on his chest as a symbol for good luck. "To the cabin," she ordered, and the alligator started heading back towards where the river lay.

"Olympe, make sure he doesn't die on the way there. Come run and get me immediately if there's any sign of his condition worsening. I'll see you there." The fishing cat's whiskers twitched as she turned and followed after Rousse. Taking a deep breath, she tried to ignore the metallic scent of blood, and ran into the forest.

She almost tripped twice when going down the slope, then leaped over the mossy log from before as she passed Olympe, Rousse, and the monster. Reaching the path beside the river in a matter of seconds, she turned to the left and started heading upriver along it, where she'd come from. Her feet messed up the footprints and paw prints her and Olympe had left on the way there.

After just a minute dashing along the sand, she slowed slightly, looking over to the river. A naiad, a water spirit, watched her from under the surface of a calmer pool flanked by rapids. Stopping by planting her feet on the sand, she skirted to a stop, crouching at the dirt cliff that rose above the bank. Placing all her weight onto the palms of her hands that laid flat on the ground at her sides, she brought her body forwards, plummeting into the pool.

She submerged within a few seconds, sitting on a pebble and gravel deposit beside the naiad. Her hair floated upwards as she turned, the water lilies keeping their place; her clothes were now soaked, dragging her down a little in the water. She breathed fine, however, as if she had gills. The naiad smiled at her, and a water current softly picked her up from the riverbed, carrying her upriver despite other currents.

Waving thankfully at the naiad, she turned to face where she was going. Her water streamed slightly behind her as the current picked up speed, the water flowing across her face as wind might through a person's hair when running; excited and fearful adrenaline rushed through her veins as she thought about the monster, and how she was speeding through the river.

Her dress threatened to catch on any passing rocks, so she tucked her legs under her, the dress's end facing where she left. Her eyes scanned the riverbed that she was flowing by, looking for familiar landmarks. It became increasingly harder to do so when it picked up speed, though just in time she spotted the boulder in the middle of the river before she slammed face-first into it.

The current stopped as she grasped the top of the boulder, heaving herself out of the water and on top. Her drenched dress threatened to drag her back, and her muscles ached from the excessive use of magic. Nevertheless, she crawled on top of the boulder, and did a quick stretch before adjusting herself and pushing her body towards the bank to her right.

Her feet planted on soft sand, and she stumbled before regaining her balance. Reeds swarmed the bank to her left and right, though a foot on either side was just empty sand. It was almost exactly mirrored on the opposite shore. The land sloped upwards, becoming more gravel and dirt than sand, ending up at a pale birch wood staircase leading to a deck of the same wood.

The cabin was made out of a combination of stone and birch wood, with a simple triangular roof and two floors. It had two windows in the front leading to dark rooms, flanking the front door. A single rocking chair was nestled onto the deck, looking over the river. She hurried up the steps, and through the door, wiping off extra sand onto a rough mat before stepping inside of the house.

Inside, the color scheme was either white and tan, or white and pale blue. She walked into the living room, which was one of the bigger rooms of the house. A staircase split the living room - which was to the left - and the dining room, which was to the right. The living room and dining room were white and tan.

A tan couch was nestled against the back wall, with a carved birch coffee table in front of it. A white rug was on the hardwood flooring, with a few board games placed on there haphazardly. A few carved bookshelves flanked the couch, with various books and knick-knacks on the shelves. A stand was against the left wall, under a window, which had a few tied bundles of various herbs.

The living room had a plain tan dining table and white carved chairs, with two side-by-side windows showing an excellent forest view to the right. A potted plant was nestled in the front right corner, and an open doorway to the kitchen was in the back of that room. It had basic appliances - a stove, a fridge, a sink - with many carved cupboards and tan counters. The drapes in every room were white, the walls and floors were tan. There was a single lamp in each room which was turned off, making everything dependent on natural light.

She hurried up the stairs, to the upstairs rooms. There was a hallway splitting left and right. To the right was one door, and to the left was two. She headed to the left, opening the first door. It was a closet, which she pulled a light blue cot out of before closing it. She went to the next room, which was a bathroom. It had a toilet and a sink, and she rooted in the cabinet under the sink.

Taking out a basic first-aid kit, she closed it and left the bathroom, shutting the door. Awkwardly carrying the kit and cot, she rushed back downstairs to set everything up in the living room. She placed the cot in the empty space up against the front wall, right under one of the windows that flanked the front door. She started getting out the supplies from the kit, and setting them up like she was preparing for a surgery.

Getting back up and feeling exhausted already, she opened the door as she spotted the alligator lumbering up the slope towards the stairs, the monster strapped to his back and the fishing cat padding at his side. She made a hurrying motion, and went back inside to make sure everything was ready. She grabbed a bundle of herbs from the stand nearby, and rooted through them and picked out a few, placing it back.

Within a few minutes the alligator was inside and next to the cot. She untied the monster swiftly, nudging him onto the cot, though set him so he slightly sat against the wall. "You did good, Rousse. Head back to the river," she muttered distractedly as she focused on taking out the scissors and trying to damage his shirt as little as possible so she could get it off and see his wound.

After a minute of struggling to get it off, she inspected the wound in-detail. The spear's sharp end was two rather sharp knives taped tightly to the end of the shaft, slightly angled because of the carved wood to make a point that went through him all the way, demolishing his ribcage on the way through. Blood seeped out of his sternum and ribs where the broken ends were, and his spine had been narrowly missed by the sharp end, though it was nicked and was bleeding.

The ribcage was what was the most worrying. The blood had been dripping down from the ribcage down to his back area, which had been the cause of the puddle; now it was dripping onto the cot, and she had no experience with bleeding skeletons. It was more blood than expected, and she didn't know how much blood skeletons had, and how much they could spare.

It was a much darker color, and oozed; venous bleeding. She needed to get the spear shaft out of the way so she could treat it properly. Unlike normal stab wounds, it wasn't lodged anywhere, having already down the worst of its damage. As gently as she could, she un-lodged it from his ribcage, tossing it to the side where Olympe sniffed it out of curiosity.

She needed to clean it, so she got up, quickly making her way to the kitchen. With the flick of her wrist, water came pouring out of the sink and into a floating orb beside her that churned mid-air, and followed her when she rushed back to the monster she was treating. With the water, she made it rinse on the wound as best she could at the moment as delicately as she could manage, until it was shaded a deep red.

Digging through the first-aid kit, she pulled out bandages. She surveyed the ribcage, before adjusting him so he laid on his back on the cot. Keeping her hands as still as possible, her narrow fingers helped her adjust the pieces of rib that were threatening to fall off into their normal position. Shards and small pieces were still missing, but she didn't have time to worry about them; he'd live, that was that.

Using small bandages to keep the falling pieces in place, they also helped to stop bleeding. She wrapped a thick, cozy layer of bandage around his entire torso, having to reach under him over and over to do the proper loops. Sweat already was breaking out on her forehead, and her muscles started cramping from more magic use and the wearing-off adrenaline. When she was satisfied, she stood up.

Her dress was still absolutely drenched, which slowed her down as she trudged upstairs, and rooted through the closet to pull out a dark blue blanket. She closed the closet door and descended back down the stairs, wrapping the monster in it so he would be comfortable. Closing all of the curtains on the windows, she turned on a single lamp in the living room that emitted a soft light.

She sighed when seeing the mess she'd made in her rush. Water was all over the floor from where her dress had dripped, which she didn't have enough magic to clean at that very moment. Blood was on the ground from where she'd tossed the spear, and she kicked it against a wall so she wouldn't step on it later. She felt utterly exhausted - mentally and physically - and began to go upstairs.

When she'd seen that monster, she'd suppressed her emotions to care for him. Now that was wearing off, and her chest clenched in sympathy for the poor monster. She wondered what had happened to him to get him like that, so she figured when he woke up she'd ask, if he was up to answering.

~

Pain.

His ribs felt like they were on fire, and he felt like if he tried to stand he'd collapse on the spot into a pile of bones and fabric. The little strength he'd had in his body had ebbed away into nothing. His eye sockets opened slightly, clenching shut as a migraine hit him full-force. He groaned out loud, though it came out quiet and hoarse.

Something warm and soft surrounded him, and it made it much less enticing to move. He was fine with that completely, but he needed to figure out where he was. And why he wasn't dead in the middle of the woods.

Opening one eye socket, he glanced around. He was in a living room he didn't recognize, and he was in a cot, wrapped in a really comfortable blanket. The damn spear he had been impaled on was against a wall, with a weird cat sitting next to it and pawing it around a little. The strong, metallic scent of blood finally hit in nasal cavity, and he cringed as best he could when he was stuck in place.

It was dim in there, lit by a single lamp in the far corner. The room had a kind of cozy, natural feel that he liked about it. he could almost forget that his chest felt like he was dying. He realized he still had his jacket, but his shirt had a huge section cut out of it and was on the floor nearby. It was  _drenched_ in crimson, and he wished his head wasn't facing that way. He closed his eye sockets, sighing as heavily as his body would allow.

When he opened them again, the cat was going up a flight of stairs. He figured it was off to do things cats do on a regular basis, so he paid it no mind. His thoughts drifted elsewhere as he tried to ignore the pain in his ribs, staring into space... or at the rug. What seemed like only a moment later, a girl came down the stairs. She looked like a wreck tied in a bow. Her (h/c) hair was tangled and knotted in the back. Her (e/c) eyes seemed glazed with pure tiredness and the will to go back to bed.

She was dressed in a thrown-on, incredibly wrinkled long blue shirt and black pants, nothing on her feet. As she passed water it collected into a floating orb that followed her, though it looked ready to pop. When seeing him, her face turned from tired to concerned. "You feeling okay?.. shit, forgot to make that herbal tea for pain relief, sorry. I'll brew it now," she apologized. Even her voice sounded tired, and she swiftly picked up some plants that had been near him and disappeared into the next room.

She looked ready to work herself to death.

He realized that she looked human, but she had that floating orb of water - which meant that he was under the care of a mage. His brow furrowed and the edges of his smile dipped at that thought, but his expression blanked again as she walked towards him.

She opened the front door, and the orb went flying out. He heard it join another body of water - a river, maybe. She closed the door, and looked over to him. "I'll be with you properly in a second," she informed, turning and hurrying back out of sight before he could reply. Again.

The strange cat wandered back downstairs, glanced at him, then went after the mage. The two came back a minute later. She was carrying a tray with a kettle and a mug, which she placed on a coffee table across the room.

She picked up the mug, and a perfect amount of the herbal tea rose up from the kettle and emptied itself into the mug. She walked over to him, sitting beside the cot. "Can you sit up?"

"no," he replied, though it came out as more of a croak noise. She placed down the mug and helped him sit up, then offered it to him. He took it, hesitating a moment before managing to take a sip.

"I'm (Y/n). My fishing cat found you while we were taking a walk, so we brought you back here and I did my best to save you. It isn't, uh, perfect... Your ribs were a mess. A few shards are still missing. Also, sorry about your shirt, I'm going to get rid of the stains and stitch it back up for you. Your jacket as well, but I'm going to do your shirt first."

He watched as she stood back up, and picked up his shirt. She left out of the front door, shutting it behind her. The fishing cat looked at him, tilting its head slightly as he took a few more sips of the tea. It had been hastily put together, so didn't have a necessarily would-die-for taste, though it wasn't horrible. The leaves got caught on his teeth occasionally when sipping, and the tea was rather hot so it burned his mouth a little for each sip.

The strength was coming back to his body slowly, trying to ebb away further. He could taste the magic in the tea, which had healing properties, but he knew he'd have to drink at least fifty cups to fix his problem, which would take quite awhile, and she probably didn't have that much tea or the time to make it. The good-old fashioned way it was, then.

He hoped nobody was worried about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got this first chapter done. After trying seven different routes to start with, I decided on this one; for awhile I pondered if she should live in a group of mages or solitary, so I decided semi-solitary, which you'll see more of in the next chapter. It took so long because of how many times I'd written like six pages then discarded it, realizing how trash it was. I hope you like this route!
> 
> Oh, and I decided for each chapter I'm going to put a fun fact about the mages down here. This chapter's fun fact is that mages are highly specialized. A water mage cannot use fire magic; a nature mage cannot use earth magic, etc. Although the magic may differ depending how they use it, they have very common things they use magic for. There are even different sub-mages. I'll tell more about those another time.


End file.
